Last December Key affiliate Ultra LLC bought property near SeaWorld that had county-approved plans for a pair of 135-key, extended-stay hotels. Ultra paid $3.5 million for the 6.2-acre site on International Drive.

Advertisement

The Development Plan identifies the first hotel user as Hilton Home2 Suites.

More recently, the company engaged Boyd Civil Engineering to submit construction plans for an 8-story, 142-room Staybridge Suites on Challenger Parkway, about a 1.5 miles south of the University of Central Florida. GAI Consultants is the geotechnical engineer on the project, and Foster, Conant & Associates is the landscape architect.

Staybridge is an IHG extended-stay, select-service brand.

The 3.3-acre is owned by the same group that owns the neighboring restaurant.

Key Hotel was founded in 1982. The family-owned company owns over 40 commercial properties in and around Ohio, including 11 hotels, with over 300 employees. Executives with the company could not be reached for comment.

The Challenger Parkway property is just northeast of the 122-room Hilton Garden Inn, which sold in 2017 to another Ohio-based hotel group: Emerald Hospitality.